Chapter 74: Yukinoshita's Witness!
Realizing death was inevitable, Shimura Danzo finally revealed the ruthless resolve that had carried him this far.
He forcibly activated the Reverse Four Symbols Sealing already engraved across his body.
His blood surged at high speed, activating the technique. In an instant, a pitch-black spherical field expanded outward.
It wasn't a spatial ability, merely an energy field created from chakra. Yet the effect it produced was remarkably similar to spatial manipulation.
Everything within range would be dragged into Danzo's body and sealed away. Even solid rock could be sliced apart and swallowed by the technique.
Its only real flaw was speed. Against anyone below Kage-level, the sudden expansion might catch them off guard, but a sufficiently fast Kage-level fighter could simply escape before the blood-driven seal reached them.
For Makoto, dealing with it was even easier.
He activated Sky Manipulation and distorted the expanding spherical field into a long, narrow shape, preventing it from extending toward him at all.
Danzo could only watch as his final technique bent around Makoto as though afraid to approach him. At the same time, the Spatial Slashes tearing through his body finally extinguished his consciousness.
The Reverse Four Symbols Sealing quickly vanished.
What remained of Danzo was nothing more than scattered flesh, so thoroughly mutilated that it no longer resembled a human body.
Perhaps because the Sharingan had changed him, Makoto felt no hesitation at the sight.
He exhaled a burst of flame onto the remains. Within moments, Shimura Danzo's corpse was reduced entirely to ash.
Only now did Makoto truly feel that the battle for Konoha had fallen under his control.
Even if the fused black-robed Player joined forces with Uchiha Obito next, Makoto now possessed partial intangibility himself. He finally had enough confidence to fight both of them.
He didn't immediately dismiss his Domain Expansion, though.
Ending it would trigger Cursed Technique Burnout, so Makoto created a Shadow Clone first. He wanted to see whether the burnout would affect the clone, the original, or both.
Makoto then released the Domain.
His head immediately grew heavy, and Spatial Manipulation stopped responding.
He dismissed the Shadow Clone next, and the returning memories carried the exact same sluggish sensation.
'So much for completely skipping Cursed Technique Burnout.'
In the future, his options were either healing the burnout with Reverse Cursed Technique or having a Shadow Clone use Domain Expansion and keeping that clone active afterward.
It was troublesome, but still a workable solution.
When Makoto reappeared, nearly every Konoha shinobi looked at him with complicated expressions.
Root had been almost completely wiped out. Some survivors may have belonged to the Sarutobi or Shimura clans, but none of them had the courage to avenge Danzo.
The reason was simple. Root had been infamous in Konoha for years, and clan shinobi who joined it effectively severed ties with their original families.
For smaller clans like the Aburame, losing a rare talented child to Root's recruitment was hardly something they could simply accept without resentment.
The smaller and mid-sized clans had complained for years. Root survived only because of Danzo's authority and Sarutobi Hiruzen's protection.
Now both men were dead, and Konoha had no clear leader.
The heads of the various clans entered a wait-and-see state. None seemed eager to continue fighting Makoto.
Seeing that, Makoto turned toward Hatake Kakashi and Uchiha Obito.
The two were already fighting.
Obito wasn't using intangibility. Instead, he and Kakashi were exchanging brutal close-range blows.
Makoto had no idea what they'd said to each other before the fight began, but he had no interest in mediating a quarrel between those two old friends.
Instead, he looked toward Orochimaru.
"Orochimaru, why don't you take control of Konoha? Right now, you're probably the most suitable person here."
Konoha's shinobi were visibly startled by the suggestion, yet no one immediately objected.
Orochimaru genuinely had the strongest claim among those present.
The only remaining figures with enough seniority to challenge him were people such as Akimichi Torifu, Utatane Koharu, and Mitokado Homura, all former students of the Second Hokage alongside Hiruzen and Danzo.
But Koharu and Homura weren't present, having apparently evacuated elsewhere.
Akimichi Torifu looked completely exhausted and clearly had no intention of involving himself in something as troublesome as choosing Konoha's next leader.
Unless Jiraiya appeared right now, Orochimaru could probably seize command simply by issuing orders.
Yet to Makoto's surprise, Orochimaru was now far more interested in him than in Konoha.
"Leave Konoha's mess to that toad. I'm much more curious about you. What exactly do you plan to do next?"
Orochimaru smiled faintly. "Since we're already trading partners, I don't mind helping you a little while I still have the power of two Hokage at my disposal."
Almost the instant he finished speaking, the sealed black-robed man and his four teammates suddenly transformed into a massive cloud of smoke and drifted out of the sealing scroll.
The sight stunned Konoha's Sealing Team.
They immediately tried reinforcing the seal, but it was already too late.
Smoke-form Biscuit Soldiers rushed toward Konoha's forces once again.
Without a clear commander, the shinobi formed a loose defensive line. They quickly discovered that nearly every attack they used passed harmlessly through the smoke-like soldiers.
Each strike from the Biscuit Soldiers, however, carried scarlet rusting power. Any Konoha shinobi touched by them rapidly lost the ability to continue fighting.
Orochimaru frowned. He could no longer simply watch Konoha be destroyed.
"What exactly are these things, and how do we kill them?"
Makoto shrugged.
The only reliable answer he knew was Black Flash. Whether Konoha's shinobi possessed some other effective counter was something they'd have to discover themselves.
Of course, if Makoto wanted, he could simply manifest a weakness into the enemy.
Orochimaru now had a basic level of trust in him, so doing that wouldn't be particularly difficult.
Makoto wasn't in a hurry, though.
Konoha's defensive line was still holding. The shinobi couldn't defeat the Biscuit Soldiers, but they could at least evade most of their attacks.
More importantly, the Fate Value above the black-robed man's head had fallen to 5.
'Looks like Fate Burn consumes one Fate Value every minute.'
With only five remaining, the black-robed man couldn't maintain his boosted state for long.
In other words, Konoha only needed to survive another five minutes for the battle to effectively end.
Orochimaru naturally knew none of this.
After several seconds of silence, he asked, "Name your price. What will it take for you to act and end this crisis quickly?"
Makoto didn't answer directly. Instead, he looked at Orochimaru with amusement.
"Did those words really come from you? I thought your connection to Konoha was completely severed once Shimura Danzo died."
Orochimaru extended his long tongue and chuckled.
"See the man fighting Kakashi over there? He's another member of Akatsuki, and that organization contains several more people of comparable strength."
"They are my enemies, and Konoha is an obstacle they cannot ignore. So Konoha cannot fall, at least not until Akatsuki is eliminated."
Makoto put on an enlightened expression and accepted the explanation.
What Orochimaru truly felt wasn't particularly important to him. The old grudges and attachments of the shinobi world's previous generation weren't something an outsider like Makoto could easily relate to anyway.
"In that case, I want the technique you use to preserve a soul backup and resurrect through the Cursed Seal of Heaven."
Orochimaru stared at him in shock, his brows tightening.
He couldn't understand how Makoto knew about that method.
It was Orochimaru's ultimate life-saving trump card, a secret not even Yakushi Kabuto knew.
His surprise lasted only a moment before he regained his composure.
"I can give you the technique, but it isn't easy to use."
"You must split your own soul, merge that fragment with the Cursed Seal of Heaven, then use Senjutsu to reconstruct a physical body."
Orochimaru continued, "Even I prepared it only as an absolute last resort. I have no desire to use it unless necessary."
"And once your soul is divided, if you encounter an enemy specializing in genjutsu..."
Makoto's Three-Tomoe Sharingan lit up.
Orochimaru immediately understood.
There simply weren't many genjutsu users powerful enough to threaten Makoto anymore.
He stopped explaining and opened his mouth, producing a scroll before handing it over.
Makoto opened it for a quick look.
The complete technique was indeed recorded inside.
More importantly, the moment he touched the scroll, a system notification appeared.
[Congratulations! You have obtained the S-rank Item: Orochimaru Style: Cursed Seal of Heaven Resurrection Technique.]
With the system itself confirming the item, Makoto calmly stored the scroll away.
As for how he planned to use it, he had absolutely no intention of honestly learning everything from the beginning.
The Cursed Seal of Heaven, soul fragments, and even the crucial Senjutsu component could all potentially be achieved through Making Fake Become Real.
Makoto was just considering how to begin his next manifestation when Orochimaru impatiently prompted him.
"You can act now, can't you?"
Makoto hadn't answered yet when Yukinoshita's voice suddenly reached him.
"Kitano-kun, there's something I need to tell you!"
Yukinoshita had been watching over the unconscious Uchiha Sasuke until now.
Yukimi was already drawn, making it clear that she had been waiting impatiently for her own chance to fight.
Makoto's battles had simply unfolded so quickly that even Yukinoshita struggled to keep up.
Now she finally had an opportunity.
She handed Sasuke to a wounded shinobi retreating from the front line and came directly to Makoto's side.
"All right."
Makoto ignored Orochimaru's visibly irritated expression and chose to hear his teammate out first.
He expanded Silent Echo around himself and Yukinoshita, ensuring Orochimaru couldn't hear their conversation.
With no other option, Orochimaru sent the First and Second Hokage to support Konoha's forces.
Unfortunately, limited to the Hokage's most basic techniques, even Orochimaru couldn't do much against enemies capable of elemental transformation.
All he could do was help Konoha retreat while fighting.
Anyone could see that this couldn't continue forever.
There were already more than a hundred Biscuit Soldiers, and their numbers kept rising.
The five-meter-tall malformed giant rampaged across the battlefield as well, destroying structures and chasing down shinobi.
Fortunately, its only direct attacks were Haki-coated punches.
Konoha's shinobi were at least experienced in avoiding straightforward physical attacks like those.
Yukinoshita finally spoke.
"They're using Fate Burn to temporarily break through the Main God Space's restrictions."
"I suspect they also used some item above Veteran level to stabilize the five-person fusion and keep their minds and abilities from collapsing."
She tightened her grip on Yukimi.
"So leave the next battle to me."
Makoto's eyes widened, but he ignored her request and immediately focused on something else.
"You're saying Fate Burn lets someone ignore the Main God Space's restrictions?"
"Yes. It lets you ignore the restriction, but not the punishment."
Yukinoshita continued seriously, "I planned to tell you after this mission. Since things have reached this point, though, you need to know now."
"In the future, don't blindly trust the Main God Space's rules."
"You can break them under certain circumstances. You simply need to be prepared to bear the punishment afterward."
Makoto nodded slowly.
Only now did he truly understand.
'Fate Value is probably the Main God Space's most valuable currency.'
He glanced toward the malformed giant, which was practically suppressing all of Konoha by itself.
"Are you confident?"
Makoto didn't mention that the enemy was almost out of Fate Value.
So far, he seemed to be the only person capable of directly seeing the Fate Value of Players and Story Characters.
That was probably another hidden benefit attached to the SSS-rank Talent Making Fake Become Real.
"I have... a fifty percent chance."
"Fifty percent?"
Makoto stared at her in surprise.
That didn't sound like something Yukinoshita Yukino would normally say.
For some reason, a faint blush appeared on her face.
She quickly suppressed whatever emotions were stirring inside her and asked a strange question instead.
"Kitano-kun, can I trust you?"
Makoto was about to answer when Yukinoshita raised her blade between them.
Makoto's eyes were reflected across Yukimi's polished surface.
"Please don't answer too quickly. I'm asking about what you truly feel."
Makoto's heart tightened.
'Did Yukinoshita figure something out?'
Still, that wouldn't be particularly surprising.
Togawa Sakiko almost certainly knew by now that Makoto had told plenty of lies.
Yukinoshita had merely reached the same conclusion in her own way.
"Kitano-kun, I don't know what your Talent actually is, but I'm certain it's far more than just those eyes."
"But that's your secret, and I won't pry."
Yukinoshita's gaze remained steady. "You never demanded that I reveal my own Talent either."
"I only want to know one thing."
"Can I trust you, Kitano-kun?"
Makoto met Yukinoshita's gaze. There was almost no reservation left in her expression.
He answered seriously.
"Then I need to know what kind of trust you're asking for."
"As a partner, as a teammate, or something beyond that?"
"Only then can I give you an honest answer."
Yukinoshita took a slow breath and finally voiced her request.
"I want you to become the witness to my Zanpakuto's Bankai."
…